Pakistan’s Ban On Some New Age Islam Pages Points To Insidious Taliban Control Over Islamabad’s Policies: Which Articles Have Been Blocked And Why?
Please See A New Age Islam Reader's Ordeal In Pakistan, Struggling To Open Some Blocked Pages
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
June 22, 2013
The Pakistan government’s blockage of New Age Islam’s pages prompted us to do some analysis to ascertain the probable reasons for their discomfort with our website. We also wanted to know who might be behind the policy of blocking New Age Islam and which section of the Pakistan’s political and religious fraternity could be affected by those articles. A close analysis of the blocked pages has brought us to the serious and far-reaching conclusion that the new government of Pakistan has been virtually taken over by Taliban elements both in the political and military institutions of Pakistan.
About ten (the number could be higher) pages have been blocked. Out of the ten pages that we know of, most of the pages are in Urdu. One Arabic and one English article have been blocked. That means mainly Urdu articles have been blocked as in Pakistan, Urdu is the lingua franca and Urdu content has a greater impact on the society. Clearly the Talibani elements in Pakistan have given up on the readers of English newspapers as Mulhid and Kaafir, and are seeking only to salvage Pakistan’s Urdu-reading public.
First article that was blocked (according to our information) was an Urdu humorous piece on Shah Rukh Khan written and posted by a Pakistani journalist and blogger Mohammad Izhar ul Haque on his blog. The article exposed the hypocrisy of the Pakistani leaders and the social ills of the conflict-ridden city of Karachi in particular and of Pakistan in general. The issue of extortion on a big scale, the kidnapping and killing of minorities like Sikhs and Hazara Shias and the sectarian politics and violence in Pakistan was sarcastically dealt with in the article.
Another article that was blocked was an article by Nastik Durrani, a regular columnist of New Age Islam who writes on the social, educational and religious issues of Muslims and mostly criticises the ill practices of Muslims and their narrow minded approach to their understanding of Islam, their obscurantism, their sectarian obsessions and their historical mistakes and wrongdoings. He also criticises the lack of scientific attitude and approach of Muslims in a no holds barred and irreverent style that might offend many Muslims. The article titled ‘The Elements Of Sex And Death In The Suicide Of Terrorists’ dealt with aspects of sex and death in the life of terrorists who commit suicide and embrace death only in the hope of getting 72 houris in heaven. Terrorist ideologue Maulana Masood Azhar never tires of describing how a suicide bomber goes to his target visualising what he is going to do with his 72 wives in heaven soon. Thus these terrorists do not have a broader view of a Muslim’s life in the world. The article will clearly not go down well with terrorists and their masterminds who brainwash innocent and mostly poor and unemployed Muslim youth into turning into a suicide bomb for their own political ends.
Another article blocked by Pakistan was one by renowned Islamic scholar Muhammad Yunus whose landmark book ‘The Essential Message of Islam’ co-authored by Ashfaque Sayyid was authenticated by the Al-Azhar University. The article titled, ‘The Qur’an Offers Protection and Coequal Personal Rights to Women’ asserted that Islam granted equal social, economic and even political rights to women. Since the idea of equality of women in Islam is rejected by Islamists, the article will also not go down well with them. Recently, during the elections in Pakistan, Muslim women in tribal areas of Pakistan were barred and forcefully prevented from casting their votes by Taliban and other militant outfits of Pakistan. Since the article promotes the idea of equality of women vis-à-vis men, it had to be blocked to save Muslim women of Pakistan from the ‘ill-effects’ of the’ misleading’ thoughts of Muhammad Yunus.
Another article that was blocked was by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, titled ‘The Power Of Peace Is Greater Than The Power Of Violence’. One wonders how such an article that stresses on the power and importance of peace affect the peace and harmony of a country that boasts of its Islamic identity and legacy. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s article only emphasized the message of peace brought by Islam and the gist of the article was that ‘Peaceful methods are far more effective than violent methods. Constructive goals can be achieved only through peaceful means, while violent ways lead to destruction and ruin.’ Such an article or message can only be disturbing the peace of mind of the group that believes in the ideology of violence and bloodshed. By blocking the article of a world renowned Islamic scholar and exegete of the Quran means that those controlling the policies of the Pakistan government are illiterate morons who are unaware of the teachings and ideals of Islam and are far removed from the understanding of the Quran. Anyone who equates Islam with violence has no business calling himself Muslim.
Recently, the Urdu daily Jang, Pakistan had carried an advertisement from Pakistani inviting prospective buyers for pieces of pall of Kaaba (the covering of Kaaba) worth Rs 4 crores in his possession. The advertiser said that he was selling it due to financial constraints. An Urdu columnist of Pakistan has penned an article on the advertisement criticizing the mindset of those who do not hesitate to even sell the pall of the holy Kaaba for money. The pall of Kaaba is removed every year and the old one is cut into pieces and gifted to influential pilgrims, foreign dignitaries and politicians. Since the pall of Kaaba (Kiswah) is embroidered with gold and silver threads, it is very costly. The website of the Ministry of Hajj only says that the old Kiswah is cut into pieces and gifted to pilgrims. However, the fact is that ordinary pilgrims are not gifted the pieces of removed Kiswah and only influential and rich dignitaries coming to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj qualify for the gift. An email was sent to the Ministry of Hajj, Saudi Arabia on behalf of New Age Islam asking them to provide us the names of people or dignitaries who received the sacred pieces of Kiswah last year but there was no reply from the ministry. It seems the advertiser is some influential dignitary of Pakistan who received a valuable piece of Kiswah by the Ministry of Hajj and now wanted to sell it off. This was the first time Kiswah was put on sale. There also seems to be a scandal involving the old pieces of Kiswah that are going in the hands of unscrupulous influential persons who get it and then sell it in the market, making money out of Kiswah. This article titled ‘Kiswah, Pall of Kaaba for Sale in Pakistan’ written by Fazal Hussain Awan in Urdu and published in an Urdu daily was also blocked because it apparently tarnished the image of Pakistan and pointed to a Saudi scandal.
The Urdu translation of an article by Faiz ur Rehman titled ‘Towards a Progressive Interpretation of Islam’ was also blocked. The article argued with references from the Quran that Islam did not advocate Polygyny and it puts conditions for more than one marriage. It also referred to a recent judgment by an Indian court that held that Islam did not profess Polygyny. The article argues that the Quran mentions Polygyny only once in the Quran but Muslim men took this exception as a rule and made it a dominant practice. The author also argued that the Quran disapproves multiple marriages and therefore the practice of Muslims having more than one marriage was against the ideals of Islam. Since this article also struck at the root of a rampant practice in which the mullahs believe and who see women as an object of sex, the article was blocked too.
An Arabic translation of an article titled ‘How Terrorism Lures Youths in the Maghreb?’ was also blocked. The article exposes the fact that the terrorist organizations in the Maghrebi states of the Arab peninsula lured the youth with the promise of houris and paradise and trained them to become suicide bombers. Such an article could only affect the prospects of a jihadi or terrorist organization and therefore we will not be wrong if we infer that those blocking the page must belong to some terrorist or extremist organization practicing the same. Do we need to name the organizations? Since the article was in Arabic, it might alert the Muslim youth of the Arab countries and expose their un-Islamic ideas and ideology to them, the article needed to be blocked.
Another article which was blocked was a refutation of an article titled ‘The Duty To Enjoin Good And Forbid Evil’ published in the Urdu mouthpiece of Taliban, Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad. The magazine is carrying out a series on the subject of enjoining good and forbidding evil in Islam. The Taliban is presenting its own interpretation of Qur’anic injunctions and Hadiths on the duty to enjoin good and forbid evil. In the name of enjoining good and forbidding evil, Taliban profess the violent practice of implementing their rigid interpretation of Islamic Shariah giving every citizen the authority to impalement Shariah by force. Since education for girls is according to them an evil, they forbid the evil by destroying girls’ schools and colleges and attacking girls like Malala and recently attacking a school bus of a women’s university. Previously, they forbade the ‘evil’ of music by killing a singer of Swat named Shabana. So this is their interpretation of the duty to enjoin good and forbid evil. In the refutation, New Age Islam had exposed their misinterpretation, so this article too was blocked. Obviously, no one except the Taliban or people with a Jihadi mindset were affected by the refutation, so the article was blocked clearly by those who are the supporters of Taliban in the government of Pakistan.
‘Why Self-Confidence Is Necessary for Today’s Women’ also can be an article that deserved to be blocked in a so called progressive Islamic state like Pakistan. One can only cry at the tragic plunge of the intellectual fall of the people in control of Pakistan’s policy. The article only stresses the need for self-confidence in Muslim women so that they can contribute to their family and society in a better way. Since the morons of the extremist organizations of Pakistan are against giving any social or political space to women, they cannot allow the promotion of the idea of self-confidence in Muslim women, especially the women of Pakistan. They want women to be subservient to men in every sphere of life not able to assert their personality and role in the society. Hence, the need for them to block the page.
Above all, the article informing our readers about the blockage titled ‘Pakistan Government Bans Some Pages of Multilingual Islamic Website New Age Islam: Not Difficult To See Why’ was also blocked so that the Pakistani people cannot learn of this great act of saving the Pakistani Muslim community from the ‘harmful’ and ‘misleading’ content posted on New Age Islam.
The ‘objectionable’ websites or its selected pages are blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. It has become aggressive following last year’s release of blasphemous film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ which sparked widespread protests by Muslims in Pakistan. Even the head of PTA was dragged to court for not being able to block such blasphemous and pornographic sites. This prompted the government to form a committee and a sub-committee to track and block offensive websites in Pakistan. The PTA also set up a crisis cell to receive complaints from the public about any offensive or objectionable site.
However, it is the Pakistan army that does the blocking most of the time without taking the PTA into confidence. Those websites that criticize the policies or its links with the Jihadi and terrorist organizations are blocked by the army.
Last year, the website of Canada’s largest circulated daily Toronto Sun was blocked in Pakistan. The publishers initially did not have any idea about the blockage. Later, they noticed the declining hits on the website in Pakistan that went down to only one hit and came to know that the site was blocked. Pakistani-Canadian columnist Tarek Fatah who writes for Toronto Sun criticized the move and termed it a politically motivated one. When he inquired about the reason of the blockage, an official of the Pakistani government told him, “Your criticism and exposure of Fauji-Jihadi shenanigans. Decision from Aabpara.” It suggested that the Sun was blocked because Tarek Fateh exposed the army-Jihadi adventures in Pakistan.
Another website that was blocked in Pakistan last year is Rolling Stone. The reason was the same. It had published a story on the ‘insane military spending’.
Thus it is clear that not only the pornographic and blasphemous websites and pages are blocked in Pakistan but also the websites that are critical of the role of the Pakistan army.
Since New Age Islam has also been publishing articles exposing Pakistan army’s relations with the terrorist organizations, it was bound to warrant a blockage.
It is a fact that all the articles go against the ideology of Taliban – the ideology of violence, subservient status of women, suicide bombing, persecution of minorities, etc. It should also be noted that the extremists and fundamentalist forces are active in Pakistan army as Adnan Rashid, a Pakistani terrorist having worked in the army, had disclosed in an interview in the Taliban’s English mouth piece Azan. Since New Age Islam had published an article to highlight this aspect of the Pakistan army’s activities, the Talibani/Jihadi elements in the military might have taken the initiative to block the pages of New Age Islam.
Since the new government has come to power with the tacit support of Taliban, the militants are clearly in the driving seat in the Nawaz Sharif government. Only the last week, the Punjab chief minister and PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif granted Rs 61 million to Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba, a terrorist organisation. The opening of the political bureau of Taliban in Qatar was facilitated by the government of Pakistan, according to a foreign office spokesman. The Pakistan government is pressing for the holding of dialogue between the US and Taliban though Karzai is opposed to it. The Pakistan government has released some powerful leaders of Taliban held by the previous government. All these developments point to the fact that the new government of Pakistan is being controlled by Taliban elements.
The URLs of some of the pages that have been blocked:
Shah Rukh in Pakistan
Elements of Sex and Death in Suicide of Terrorists
Pakistan Government Bans Some Pages of Multilingual Islamic Website New Age Islam: Not Difficult To See Why
The Qur’an Offers Protection and Coequal Personal Rights to Women قرآن خواتین کو تحفظ اور مساوی ذاتی
حقوق عطاء کرتا ہے
The Power of Peace Is Greater Than the Power of Violence
https://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/maulana-wahiduddin-khan,-tr-new-age-islam/the-power-of-peace-is-greater-than-the-power-of-violence--امن-کی-طاقت-تشدد-کی-طاقت-سے-عظیم-تر-ہے/d/12151
Kiswah, Pall of Kaabah for Sale in Pakistan
https://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/fazal-hussain-awan--فضل-حسین-اعوان/Kiswah,-pall-of-kaabah-for-sale-in-pakistan--غلاف-کعبہ-برائے-فروخت/d/12131
Towards A Progressive Interpretation Of Islam
https://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/towards-a-progressive-interpretation-of-islam--اسلام-کی-ایک-ترقی-پسند-تشریح-کی-طرف/d/12130
How Terrorism Lures Youths in the Maghreb?
The Duty To Order Good And Prohibit Evil – Part 1 ۔1
Why Self-Confidence Is Necessary for Today’s Women
https://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/why-self-confidence-is-necessary-for-today’s-women--آج-کی-خواتین-کیلئے-خود-اعتمادی-کیوں-ضروری؟/d/12110